The
time leading up to Oklahoma's Centennial celebration offers our state's citizens an unprecedented opportunity
to study their heritage and explore what it means to be an Oklahoman.

A
goal of Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma is to make literature and history
part of this statewide examination.

The
mission of this project is to celebrate our diversity and heritage
by encouraging the reading, discussion, and enjoyment of Oklahoma-themed
literature.

It's
a chance to create a community of readers, to involve different age
groups, and to join together towns large and small as we read and talk
about our special Oklahoma identity.

As
we draw closer to the 100th anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood,
it is fitting that we examine what Oklahoma has been and what it is
becoming. Oklahoma’s rich history and literature explores themes
related to the settlement of Oklahoma: the removal of Indian tribes,
the slow migration of other tribes, lotteries and land runs of people
from many regions of the country, and immigrants of various ethnic and
racial heritage. The state’s early history is replete with dramatic
stories from the land runs, frontier settlement, the oil boom, and the
depression. In more recent history, Oklahomans have made an impact on
the national scene through political, scientific, military, and educational
leadership.

As novelist Edna Ferber once said, “almost anything can happen
in Oklahoma. Almost everything has.” Authors inside and outside
of our state have been inspired by the Oklahoma experience. They have
put pen to paper to tell both real and imagined human dramas and comedies,
of pioneers and lawmen, of frontier bravery and chicanery, of searing
poverty and depression conquered by courage and persistence. As books
about Oklahoma appear with increasing regularity, they are helping us
to understand Oklahoma’s history, its icons, its culture, and
its future promise.

Over
these next few years, we invite you and Oklahomans across our grand
land to join this statewide reading and discussion program. In the process
of exploring these literary works and talking about them with your fellow
citizens, we hope you discover something special about yourself and
your neighbors, and about this great state we call home.

Anita
R. May, Ph.D.*Executive Director and President
Oklahoma Humanities Council

Susan
C. McVeyDirector
Oklahoma Department of Libraries

*Anita May has retired. Ann Thompson became the new OHC Executive Director in January, 2006